Maria Fekter

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Maria Fekter at the World Economic Forum , 2011

Maria Theresia Fekter (born February 1, 1956 in Attnang-Puchheim ) is an Austrian politician ( ÖVP ). From 2008 to 2011 she was Austrian Minister of the Interior and from 2011 to 2013 Austrian Minister of Finance . From 1990 to 2017 she was a member of the Austrian National Council with interruptions .

Career

Maria Fekter attended the Kreuzschwestern grammar school in Gmunden (where Maria Berger was one of her classmates in the girls' boarding school) and the commercial academy in Vöcklabruck ( Matura 1975). She then completed her law degree at Johannes Kepler University Linz (Dr. iur. 1979) and business administration (Mag. Rer. Soc. Oec. 1982). She also passed the hospitality license exam. In 1982 she joined her parents' company (Niederndorfer & Co., gravel works transport concrete) and became a managing partner in 1986.

She began her political career as a councilor in Attnang-Puchheim (1986–1990). From 1990 to 2002 she was a member of the Presidium of the Austrian Economic Association . From 1990 to 1994 Fekter was State Secretary in the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs in the Federal Government of Vranitzky III . Since 1994 she has been a member of the National Council and since 2002 chairwoman of the Economic Commission of the European Women's Union . From November 2006 to June 5, 2007 she was parliamentary group leader in the Eurofighter committee of inquiry of the Austrian National Council . From July 1, 2007 to June 30, 2008, she was the Ombudsman of the Republic of Austria as successor to Rosemarie Bauer . Claudia Durchschlag took over her national council mandate on the same date .

Interior Minister

Maria Fekter, 2010

On July 1, 2008, Fekter was sworn in as Günther Platter's successor as Minister of the Interior in the federal government of Gusenbauer . After the National Council election in 2008 , she kept this government post in the federal government Faymann I in the team of the new Vice Chancellor and ÖVP chairman Josef Pröll . After Pröll's resignation, Fekter became his successor in the Federal Ministry of Finance in April 2011. Fekter's political priorities as Minister of the Interior were the national and transnational fight against crime, the new regulation of aliens law and the acceleration of asylum procedures.

Fight against crime

In 2009, the Interior Minister initiated the establishment of a special police commission to combat break-ins in the border area, which began investigations in July of the same year. The so-called SoKo Ost had the task of increasing the resolution rate for burglaries in the federal states of Vienna, Lower Austria and Burgenland . Cross-border situation reports should also be created. After initial criticism, the Minister of the Interior announced in 2010 that the SoKo East would be continued due to falling numbers of burglaries and an increased clear-up rate .

Aliens Law

Also in 2009, the Interior Minister had the aliens law revised. The amendment to the law on aliens accelerated asylum procedures, asylum seekers who had committed criminal offenses could be deported more quickly, and asylum seekers were required to report. On the other hand, the situation for family members has been eased, as the criminality of supporting illegal immigration has been lifted.

Different criticisms came from the parties represented in parliament . There the amendment was rejected by the two right-wing populist parties FPÖ and BZÖ as not being rigorous. The Greens, however, saw “inhuman hardship” in the change. There was further criticism from various NGOs such as Asylkoordination Österreich , the refugee aid Asyl in Not and the SOS Mitmensch platform .

criticism

On November 3, 2008, Fekter relieved the then director of the Austrian Federal Criminal Police Office , Herwig Haidinger , after he accused the former Minister of the Interior of having exerted political influence on the investigation into the BAWAG affair . The suspension was lifted as partially illegal by the Interior Ministry's Disciplinary Commission in February 2009. The opposition parties' criticism ranged from “ abuse of office ” ( Werner Neubauer ) to “serious abuse of power” ( Peter Pilz ), and a committee of inquiry was called for.

Finance minister

Her tenure as finance minister included the largest consolidation package in the history of the Second Republic, the tax agreements with Switzerland and Luxembourg, a new stability pact with the federal states, the debt brake in simple legal form and a consolidation path with the federal states as part of the health reform.

On September 16, 2011, Fekter made the following statement at the Ecofin meeting in Wroclaw : “We are currently building up enormous enemy images in Europe, against the bankers, against the rich, against the wealthy. We've had something like this before: At that time it was disguised against the Jews, but what was meant then was similar groups - and it ended in war twice. ”This comparison aroused protests and calls for resignation from many quarters. Fekter complied with the many requests to apologize on September 18, 2011: “If my statements have hurt people or groups, I deeply regret it. A comparison with the regime of National Socialism or the Holocaust was neither my request nor my intention. Therefore I apologize to all those who were irritated by my statements. (...) “But even this apology did not silence the criticism - also from within the own party.

In the summer of 2012, Vice Chancellor Spindelegger showed ambitions to take over the Ministry of Finance himself; however, he did not succeed within the party in pushing through Fekter's replacement. After the National Council election in 2013 , in which Fekter was re-elected as Upper Austrian MP, it quickly became clear that Spindelegger would not accept Fekter into the next government.

Fekter's activity as finance minister ended with the term of office of the federal government Faymann I on December 16, 2013. Her last public comment as finance minister, referring to media representatives who were “besieging” her, was shortly before: I will not miss you. Fekter remains a member of the National Council.

Private

Maria Fekter is married and has a grown daughter. In her Upper Austrian hometown of Attnang-Puchheim, she took all available steps to oppose the restart of a butcher's shop. Nearby there is a penthouse of the Fekter family and the headquarters of their company, Kieswerke-Transportbeton GesmbH. Due to the field of activity of her company ( gravel ; colloquially also money) she is sometimes referred to in the media as "Schottermitzi" (Mitzi ugsp. For Maria ).

Others

In the context of an EU crisis meeting on the debt crisis on July 13, 2011, Fekter said: “The time we have given each other is shortly . And when you ask what that means, I will tell you: shortly, without delay ”. In December 2011 “shortly, without von delay” was voted Austria's “ Spruch des Jahres 2011 ”. The jury saw it as “symptomatic of the excessive demands placed on European politicians in the complex economic situation in which the EU is currently in”.

In 2020 she was sent by the Board of Trustees of the Tiroler Festspiele Erl to the Festival's Supervisory Board, which was dissolved after the foundation was established in 2017 and re-appointed on the recommendation of the State Audit Office .

Awards

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Der Standard : Party circles: Maria Fekter follows Platter , June 27, 2008
  2. ↑ ORF : Government: Fekter becomes the new interior minister ( memento of January 14, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ), June 27, 2008
  3. ^ The press : Team Spindelegger sworn , April 21, 2011.
  4. ^ ORF : Chronicle: SoKo Ost fights break-ins
  5. ↑ Today : SoKo Ost ( Memento from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
  6. ↑ New law on aliens: charges are sufficient for deportation . In: The press . June 11, 2009
  7. ↑ Aliens Law: Strict for some, liberal for others . In: Upper Austrian news . October 22, 2009
  8. ↑ Parliament: Opinion  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 104 kB)@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.parlament.gv.at  
  9. ↑ Asyl in Not: Fekter has to go, including her package ( memento from July 7, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) , accessed on March 27, 2016
  10. ^ BK boss Haidinger: Transfer, "because I did not allow myself to be corrupted" , Der Standard, February 2008
  11. ^ Suspension of ex-BK boss lifted , Der Standard, February 10, 2009
  12. ^ Criticism of Fekter , ORF online
  13. ↑ Fekter: "Enorme Feindbilder" ( Memento from December 14, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), Ö1 Morgenjournal, September 17, 2011 (with original sound)
  14. ↑ Outrage over Fekter's comparison between the persecution of Jews and the "persecution of the rich" , Der Standard, September 17, 2011
  15. ^ Comparing Jews and the rich: Spindelegger advises Fekter to choose wording more carefully , Der Standard, September 18, 2011
  16. ^ Statement by Finance Minister Maria Fekter , ÖVP press release on September 18, 2011 at 2:03 p.m.
  17. ^ "Fekter more than ready for withdrawal" (interview with Rainer Keckeis ), Vorarlberger Nachrichten, 23 September 2011
  18. ^ ÖVP: This is how the attempted putsch ran , text dated August 30, 2012 on the oe24.at website of the Austrian daily newspaper , Vienna
  19. ↑ https://www.heute.at/s/fekter-bestatigt-aus-ihr-werdet-s-mir-nicht-fehlen--18863798
  20. ^ Gary Sperrer: A 150,000 euro complaint . Upper Austria. Online GmbH & Co.KG .. May 27, 20414. Accessed September 5, 2019.
  21. ↑ Fekter versus Fleischer: Dispute about the slaughterhouse
  22. ↑ The Rise of the Schottermitzi , on kurier.at, accessed on July 5, 2013
  23. ^ A question of the image ( Memento from December 16, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), on Kleine Zeitung , February 1, 2009
  24. ↑ "Schottermitzi, you don't push our people away from us" on derstandard.at, accessed on July 5, 2013
  25. ↑ "Shortly, without von delay" is saying of the year , diepresse.com, accessed on December 8, 2011
  26. ↑ "Euro rescue umbrella" is word of the year , orf.at, accessed on December 8, 2011
  27. ^ Causa Erl: Festival set up a supervisory board after scandals. In: Upper Austrian news . January 4, 2020, accessed January 5, 2020 .
  28. ↑ General assembly of the Tyrolean Festival Erl resolves to set up a supervisory board. January 3, 2020, accessed January 5, 2020 .
  29. ↑ a b List of all decorations awarded by the Federal President for services to the Republic of Austria from 1952 (PDF; 6.9 MB)
  30. ↑ Governor Mag. Thomas Stelzer presented state awards to distinguished personalities. In: Province of Upper Austria . September 9, 2019, accessed September 11, 2019 .

literature

Web links

Commons : Maria Fekter  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Fekter, Maria
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Fekter, Maria Theresia (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian lawyer and politician (ÖVP), finance minister, member of the National Council
DATE OF BIRTH February 1, 1956
PLACE OF BIRTH Attnang-Puchheim